New Delhi: A notice issued to Nobel laureate Amartya Sen under the ongoing Special Intensive Revision in West Bengal has caused a furore, with the Congress demanding an apology from the Election Commission of India (ECI).
His cousin Shantabhanu Sen told media persons that Sen has been issued a notice saying that there is a 15-year age difference between him and his mother—highlighting an age discrepancy.
“This is clearly harassment of Amartya Sen. He has voted earlier as well. The notice mentions that the age difference between Amartya Sen and his parents is 15 years. But the actual age difference between him and his mother is 19 and a half years. I don’t know how such a notice could have been issued. He has been asked to submit documents by 16 January. This is deliberate harassment,” he said.
The Congress party has called the notice “tragic”, asserting that the ECI and Prime Minister Narendra Modi should apologise.
“The Election Commission has asked Nobel Prize winner Amartya Sen to prove his citizenship. They have formally sent him a notice for this purpose. Gyanesh Kumar has tarnished the credibility of the Election Commission, and that too only because he wants to please his boss Modi,” read a post by the party’s X account.
SIR की धांधली को समझिए 👇
चुनाव आयोग ने नोबल पुरस्कार विजेता अमर्त्य सेन को अपनी नागरिकता साबित करने को कहा है। बाकायदा इसके लिए उन्हें नोटिस भेजा गया है।
ज्ञानेश कुमार ने चुनाव आयोग की साख पर बट्टा लगा दिया है, वो भी सिर्फ इसलिए कि उन्हें अपने मालिक मोदी को खुश करना है।…
— Congress (@INCIndia) January 7, 2026
Trinamool Congress also questioned the notice, posting on X, “A Nobel laureate should be above any suspicion, right? But what if he’s a Bengali? Then he’ll be slapped with hearing notices as if he were some common criminal.”
Highlighting Sen’s contribution to modern Economics, the ruling party in the state wrote, “This is the cynical, shameful farce of @BJP4India and @ECISVEEP‘s SIR process. They will drag our icons through the mud, tarnish our pride, and stoop to any low if it serves their Bangla-Birodhi agenda of division and degradation.”
A Nobel laureate should be above any suspicion, right? But what if he's a Bengali? Then he'll be slapped with hearing notices as if he were some common criminal.
Amartya Sen, whose groundbreaking works form the bedrock of modern economics, who has brought unparalleled glory to… pic.twitter.com/bzp37QORF9
— All India Trinamool Congress (@AITCofficial) January 7, 2026
However, following the uproar, the Chief Electoral Office of West Bengal issued a statement on X Wednesday night, labelling the claims around the “hearing notice” to Sen as “misleading”.
“The Enumeration Form of Shri Amartya Sen an overseas elector, was received by his family member Shri Shantabhanu Sen who linked him with his mother Smt. Amita Sen. Since the age difference between the elector and his mother was less than 15 years, logical discrepancy was flagged by the ERO Net Portal,” read the statement. “Notice was generated for Dr. Amartya Sen in parity with the other discrepancy cases.”
It added that since Sen is aged over 85 years, the authorities have visited his residence and completed the formalities.
On Tuesday, TMC MP Abhishek Banerjee had also accused the ECI of targeting citizens, referring to the notice to Sen.
However, PTI had then quoted EC sources, who had clarified that Sen had been summoned due to a spelling error in his name, and that he was not required to appear for a hearing.
“The confusion over the spelling is purely technical and has no bearing on the voter’s eligibility. Our officials have been instructed to resolve such matters at the administrative level to prevent unnecessary controversy,” an official was quoted as saying on Tuesday by the news agency.
Cricketer Shami also issued notice
Cricket Mohammad Shami and his brother Mohammad Kaif have also been asked to appear for a hearing under the SIR exercise. According to sources in West Bengal, Shami was asked to appear for a hearing owing to an incorrectly filled and incomplete enumeration form.
While the notice issued to him required him to appear Monday, Shami could not since he is playing for the Bengal team in the Vijay Hazare Trophy tournament. His hearing had to, therefore, be rescheduled.
Over 58 lakh voters—around 7.6 percent of the state’s total voters—were dropped from the draft electoral roll in West Bengal, following the SIR exercise.
Of the 58.2 lakh voters deleted, 24.16 lakh (3.15 percent) were found to be deceased, 32.65 lakh (4.26 percent) were found to have shifted, or were absent from their residences, and 1.38 lakh (0.18 percent) electors were found to have been enrolled at multiple places. Of the 7.66 crore electors, a total of 7.08 crore electors had submitted their enumeration forms for the exercise in the state.
Claims and objections are being filed from 16 December 2025 till 15 January 2026, and the phase of issuing notice, and hearing and verification is underway parallelly from 16 December to 7 February.
The SIR exercise has remained a bone of contention in the state, with Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee writing to Chief Election Commissioner Gyanesh Kumar on 3 January, urging the commission to halt the exercise. Banerjee had placed on record her “grave concern regarding the serious irregularities, procedural violations, and administrative lapses being witnessed” during the process.
In response, BJP MLA Suvendu Adhikari had written to Kumar Monday, saying that her call to halt SIR of electoral rolls was “nothing short of an admission of defeat”.
This is an updated version of the report.
(Edited by Mannat Chugh)
Also Read: Draft SIR: 58 lakh voters struck off West Bengal’s list, 41 lakh deleted in Rajasthan
Shouldn’t everybody equal before the law. The Bengal CEO has explained what happened was routine. It is shameful that political parties should elevate any one individual above the law especially a very high profile one who will have ample opportunity to make their if at all needed.